The Hitcher's Ghost
by erica.phoenix16
Summary: When Danny met the new girl in town...and the literal ghost of her past, little did he know that he was getting into nightmare that would test all his skills.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own any characters. Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. The Hitcher 2007 belongs to Rouge Pictures.**

 **Let's get it out of the way, I know that the remake is forgettable to compared to the 80's version. However, for this crossover to work, I need to use the remake.**

* * *

It was a rare low ghost attack day for Danny, Sam and Tucker. To mark the end of a perfect day for the tiro, they decided to hang out at the local teen hang out the Nasty Burger.

"Can you believe this?" Tucker asked excitedly.

"Yeah." Danny answered with a smile. "A quiet day at the Nasty Burger." He added.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Nasty Burger was already in their sight, causing the three best friends to hurry up. As soon as they hurried inside, they quickly found a table and looked for favorite foods on the menu. As the trio of friends searched for familiar meals, they heard the main door to the local teen hang out open.

Danny, Sam and Tucker, along with the rest of the Nasty Burger stopped what they were doing and looked up to see a pretty brown long girl with long hair and dark brown eyes standing in the doorway. At a first glance, she seemed like an average high school kid, however a second look revealed a pain hidden beneath her eyes.

As Danny looked at the new girl, he wondered what had happened to the newcomer that caused her such pain.

However, he seemed to be the only one who noticed this as every other guy in the restaurant made their way over to her in the hopes of asking her out.

Amazingly enough, she ignored them all and continued to search for a table. Then she stopped at Danny, Tucker and Sam's table and asked "Hi, do you guys mind if I join you?"

Before Danny could reply, Dash called out "Hey, you don't want to sit over there. That's the losers table!"

The new girl turned around and glared at them. Dash's face turned pale and became quiet as the new girl joined the tiro's table.

"Hi. I'm Tucker. Tucker Foley. That's T.F. as in 'Too Fine.'"

The girl gave him an annoyed look as she said "First of all, you're not my type. Second of all, I'm in college and Third of all, I'm not looking for a relationship right now."

"You're in college?" Sam questioned "Why are you doing out here all the way in Amity Park?"

"I'm taking a break and visiting relatives." The girl explained.

"Anyway, what's your name?" Danny wondered.

At that, the new girl gave him a small smile as she said "I'm Grace. Grace Andrews."

"I'm Danny." Danny replied. "You already met my best friend Tucker and this is my other friend Sam." He added as gestured towards the goth that sat next to him.

"We're all 14 year old high school freshman. How old are you anyway?" Sam asked with suspicion in her voice.

"I just turned 19, a fix weeks ago." Grace answered as she averted her eyes from Sam. "Also, I'm a sophomore." She added.

"What are you studying?" Danny asked, feeling mildly curious.

"I used to major in fashion, but I changed it to criminology." Grace answered.

This took the tiro by surprise. _What could've happened to this college student to cause such a huge change?_ They all thought at once.

"Were you involved in a crime?" Sam wondered.

At this, Grace looked away as she said "I don't feel like talking about it."

* * *

"Can you believe it?! A college girl came over to our table and sat down and talked to us!" Tucker exclaimed with joy as he and his best friends headed home later that evening.

"Yeah, if you like older women." Sam muttered as the group continued to walk.

"Are you okay, Sam?" Danny asked.

"I'm fine." Sam quickly answered, but Danny could tell that she was lying.

Then he suddenly got it. "Don't tell me, you're jealous of Grace." The ghost hybrid asked.

Sam's silence said it all.

"Sam, she may be as pretty as Paulina, but I don't think she's as shallow as you think Paulina is." Danny explained.

"How do you know? None of us know her well at all!" Sam fired back.

"One, she wants to work in criminology and two, did you not see the pain in her eyes?" Danny questioned. "It was the pain of losing someone very close to you, I haven't forgotten how close I came to experiencing that pain that day."

Sam and Tucker paused as they recalled the day that went to the future and discovered that not only did Danny grow up to be the most evil ghost on the planet, but that all of his loved ones died in an explosion at the Nasty Burger. Even though, that future had been averted, the trio was still shaken at that it could've happened. Just then, Danny felt his ghost sense go off. A few seconds later, a new ghost appeared over the various building of Amity Park. However, this ghost looked almost ordinary and yet there was something about him that was just as scary as Skulker, Freakshow, Vlad Plasmius or even his future self. Still duty called and Danny ran behind an alleyway as he cried out "I'm going ghost!"

Within a few seconds, a ring of light appeared arose be his waist and split in two. Then gone was Danny Fenton, average 14 year and in his place stood, Danny Phantom hero of Amity Park!

At once he flew towards the mysterious ghost keeping a close eye on him, at the sight of him the mysterious ghost smiled as he said "You're the halfa I heard so much about."

Feeling nervous, but doing his best not to show it, Danny replied with "What do you want?"

The mysterious ghost simply gave Danny a wicked smile as he said "While, you'd be interesting to have fun with later, you're not the one I'm looking for. I'm looking for the one who killed me."

As the mysterious ghost finished speaking, a bunch of questions started to fly through Danny's head all at once. _Who killed this ghost and why? Did he want revenge? How long ago was he killed? Just who is this ghost anyway?_

Almost as if he could read Danny's mind, the ghost said "People call me John Ryder kid and I'm been dead for the past six months. As long as you stay out of my way, I won't bother you."

Right away Danny released what this John Ryder was asking of him was impossible, he could never allow himself to stand by and watch an innocent bystander get hurt, hero of Amity Park or not, his conscience wouldn't allow it.

However, before he could say or do anything to John Ryder had spotted someone and began to fly his way towards the object of his vengeance.

* * *

Danny quickly flew after him with the intent of figuring out who Ryder's target was and stopping Ryder. As the young halfa flew closer, he was surprised to see Grace from earlier walking towards her car, but what surprised Danny even further is when Ryder said "Hey there bitch, remember me?"

At the sight of Ryder's ghost self, Grace Andrews froze in her tracks. For a moment she just stood there, frozen in fear before she worked up the courage to say "How…? Why…? I killed you…like you wanted…?"

"Okay, somebody tell me what's going on here? Like why did you kill this guy?" Danny demanded as he looked at Grace.

At this Ryder smirked as he said "When I was alive, I did things that would make your hair fall off, Gracie and her boy-toy would've joined my list of victims sooner, but good old Jimmy managed to throw me out of their car. It was then, I suddenly felt excited for the first time in a long time. It was then I knew I either had to kill them, had them kill me or make them just like me."

As Ryder finished speaking, Danny felt sick and fought back the urge to vomit. Then Grace spoke up with "I gave you what you wanted, why are you back and why are you coming after me again?"

Ryder once again evilly smirked before he briefly frowned and said "The goal was to make you just like me, after I died I was disappointed that you went back to your normal life, as if it never happened!"

At his sudden outburst, both Danny and Grace flinched back. Then Ryder composed himself as he added "Well guess what sweetheart it did and now that I'm back I'm going to finish the job!"

As he finished speaking, the murderous ghost lunged himself towards the now frightened college girl. However, Danny quickly flew in front of her and fired an ecto blast at the ghost. As Ryder dogged and growled, Danny said "Leave her alone!"

Ryder simply narrowed his eyes at the young adults as he said "I warned you to stay out of my way."

With that, he created a knife made out of ecto energy and threw it at the young adults. For a moment, Danny was stunned. However, he quickly pulled himself together and scooped up Grace in his arms and started to fly as far away from Ryder as he could.

Grace couldn't help but scream in spite of herself. Then Danny said "Look, I know this very scary, but please don't scream."

"He's right behind us!" Grace cried out as she pointed behind Danny.

Danny turned his head and discovered that to his horror that not only was Ryder right behind them but was getting ready to throw more ecto knives at them.

 _How is he able to do that?_ Danny thought to himself, before he added _It doesn't matter, I can't let him hurt us._

With that, the young ghost hybrid pulled himself out of his thoughts and fired several more ecto blasts in the hopes that at least one would hit him.

Ryder dogged them all, except for the last one and amazingly enough, it sent him flying back towards the earth and knocked him out cold.

Danny looked at Grace and asked "Would you mind taking a quick detour?"

"Can't we just get as far away from him please?" Grace pleaded.

Danny sighed as he said "Look, I know this all very new and very scary, but I need to go down there so I can put away and send him back to the ghost zone."

Grace was quiet for a moment then she replied with "Whatever, just make it quick."

"I promise it will be over before you know it." Danny assured her.

With that, Danny, still keeping a tight hold on Grace flew down towards the seemly unconscious John Ryder. However as they got closer, Ryder suddenly woke up and threw another ecto knife at the two young adults. As Grace screamed in fear, Danny leaped out of the way, still pressing the older brunette close to him with one hand as he reached for the Fenton Thermos with his other hand.

Seeing what the halfa was doing, Ryder called out "You'd think I'd let you beat me so easily dumbass!"

As the murderous ghost finished speaking, he started to form another ecto knife in his hand, but Danny quickly adjusted both Grace and the Thermos with his right hand as he quickly fired another blast with his left hand.

Soon a battle began between the two ghosts, equally matched in both determination and strength. Seeing that neither one would win anytime soon, Ryder could only see a single choice appearing before him. Ryder let out a growl of frustration as he said "You may have won this round kids, but this isn't over. Not even by a long shot!"

As he finished, Ryder turned invisible and disappeared into the pavement.

For a moment both Danny and Grace simply stared at the ground in shock not knowing what to do. Then Grace broke the silence with "What are we waiting for? Let's get out of here."

With that, Danny once again adjusted Grace in his arms, jumped into the air and flew into the sky.

* * *

As Danny flew through the air with Grace in his arms, Grace looked at him and said "You made a dangerous enemy today. Now he won't stop until either we're just like him or dead."

Danny shrugged as he replied with "I dealt with creeps like him before, an enemy of mine has been trying to make me join him too."

"What? Why?" Grace asked.

Danny paused as he carefully thought over his answer, even though he just learned about Grace's rivalry with Ryder, he wasn't ready completely ready to share the whole story of Vlad and how they came to be arch-enemies, instead he would tell the young college student a little bit of it.

"Well, he's only one like me and he thinks I should be his son. He wants me to leave my family and join him." Danny explained.

Grace looked at the young halfa with sympathy as she said "That's terrible. Doesn't the afterlife have laws that try to protect you from guys like him?"

At this, Danny couldn't help but laugh as he said "It's actually the ghost zone and no they don't since the place is pretty lawless." Then he added "Aside from that control freak, Walker. He has his own prison and will lock ghosts like me up for any reason he can think of." Danny finished with a frown on his face.

Grace looked stunned then she said "I don't know how you handle it."

"It comes with the territory." Danny replied.

At that, both Danny and Grace started to laugh. For a moment, all the tension and fear that the two young adults felt earlier seemed to be washing away.

Then, Danny remembered that Grace mentioned that she killed Ryder and he wanted to know why.

Doing his best to not to upset Grace, Danny carefully asked "Ummm...I don't mean to bother you or anything, but why I did you kill him?"

Grace paused for a moment before she replied with "He killed my boyfriend."

Danny became quiet for a moment then he said "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry, do something. Make sure Ryder can't hurt me or anyone else again." Grace pleaded.

Danny looked her right in the eye as he replied with "I won't let him touch you."

Grace smiled in thanks before she pointed down at the ground before and said "That's my apartment."

Danny took a look at the small red-brown building below and flew down towards the building. As he landed on ground and gently placed Grace down, Danny added "Would you like me to walk you inside? Also are you sure it's a good idea for you just head back to your apartment after everything that's just happened?"

Grace smiled in thanks as she said "Thanks, but no thanks, I handed him once before and I can handle him again."

"Besides, I need a quick breather in my own home. I just want to pretend that everything's still normal for a little longer." She added.

 _Then you've come to the wrong town._ Danny thought to himself in an almost teasing tone. However he knew better than to say this aloud, instead what he said next was "He's much tougher now. Also, he and I won't be the last ghosts you see in this town. Ghosts are continuously drawn to this town."

"Why?" Grace asked fearfully.

Danny took a deep breath as he replied "It's because of a faulty ghost portal in Fenton Works."

"Fenton works? What's that?" Grace wondered.

"It's a lab that's run by the only two ghost hunters in this town." Danny explained.

"Wait, so they work for the guys in white? Why haven't they caught you or any other ghost?" Grace asked in a confused tone.

"No, they don't work for the Guys in White." Danny said in a relieved tone. Then he became quiet for a moment before he added "Let's just say, they have a string of bad luck when it comes to catching ghosts. So I help them out a bit. Anyway, the point is that they can help you protect your home against Ryder."

"I know, I'll contact Fenton works for help." Grace promised.

"You should go to them right away." Danny advised.

As she stepped inside the building, the beautiful brunette turned towards Danny and said "Thanks for saving my life."

Danny blushed in spite of himself as he replied with "Oh, it was nothing."

"You're blushing. I didn't know ghosts could blush." an amused Grace pointed out.

That of course made Danny's blush even redder.

Grace couldn't help but giggle as she teased "Do all ghosts blush or just you?"

"Uh...Uh...I gotta go!" Danny cried as he quickly jumped into the air and flew away.

 _I don't believe it. I got to carry an older pretty girl._ Danny thought to himself as he fought back the urge to start dancing in joy. _Wait a minute, pull yourself together and focus Danny, she needs your help. You can celebrate later after the dangerous creep can never bother her or anyone else again._

"I gotta find Sam and Tucker." Danny muttered to himself. "They are not going to believe this." He added.

* * *

 **What do you think?**

 **Please leave a review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own any characters. Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. The Hitcher 2007 belongs to Rouge Pictures.**

 **Thank you kairi102 for choosing to follow and favorite this story and thank you for your review as well.**

* * *

As Grace hurried inside her apartment, a mix of many different emotions went through her body. Shock and horror that the Hitcher, Jim's killer, the man that haunted her nightmares was back! Yet a warm feeling of hope and gratitude filled her up at the thought of Danny Phantom, her savor. Then she remembered his words about calling the Fentons. Pulling herself out of her head, Grace whipped out her cell phone, looked up the number for Fenton works and dialed it. A few seconds later, she was greeted by a cheerful male voice "Fenton Works, how can I help you?"

Taking a moment to clear her throat, Grace said "Hi, my name is Grace Andrews and I have a ghost problem."

"Say no more! What do you need? Do you need it destroyed?" The male voice interrupted.

"Yes, I do need it destroyed, but more importantly I need protection for my house." Grace explained.

"What kind of protection do you need? We have the Fenton works ghost shield…" the male voice explained before Grace interrupted with "Yes! That's just what the doctor ordered! How much does it cost?"

The male voice paused for a moment before he replied with "I'm afraid it's going to cost at least $5,000."

At his words, Grace thought that she would have a heart attack. There was no way she could afford the ghost shield. Still she needed help, Grace then took a deep breath and asked "How much do you change for destroying a ghost?"

"Do you have a ghost haunting your house?" The male voice questioned in an almost excited tone.

 _What is wrong with this guy?_ Grace wondered to herself, before she replied with "No, but I am being stalked by one."

"YES!" The male voice cried out, before he quickly added "I mean we'll be right over right away."

 _Finally!_ _Now we're getting somewhere._ Grace thought to herself as she hung up the phone.

* * *

Meanwhile across town in FentonWorks, Jack was dancing in the kitchen "Honey! Guess what? We have our very first customer!" Jack announced with joy in a sing-song voice.

"Really?" Maddie cried as she ran into the kitchen. "Who are they and what do they need?" She added as Jack gently pulled her into the dance.

"Her name is Grace Andrews and she's being stalked by a ghost." Jack explained.

"When did this start?" Maddie wondered.

At her words, Jack's face turned pale as it dawned on him that in his excitement of getting a customer, that forgot to ask her that question and get her address.

Maddie must've read the look of shock on his face, because she said "You forgot to ask, didn't you?"

Jack could only nod his head in shame.

Maddie pulled herself out of her husband's embrace and walked over towards the kitchen phone. Maddie quickly hit the redial button and waited for Grace to pick up. A few minutes later, the ghost hunter heard a feminine voice say "Hello?"

"Hi, my name is Maddie Fenton and I'm afraid that my husband forgot to ask you some questions." Maddie explained.

"Okay, what are they?" Grace wondered.

"For example, where do you live?" Maddie inquired.

"I live in an apartment called _The Woodhouse_ and my number is 221 on the second floor." Grace explained.

"How long have you been stalked by this ghost?" Maddie asked.

"It started today, but I know this ghost he stalked me and my ...late boyfriend Jimlast spring. When he was alive." Grace explained as she fought to keep the sobs out of her voice.

On the other end, Maddie paused for a moment before she replied with "I'm so sorry for your loss." Once again Maddie became professional as she said "How did you meet him when he was alive?"

Grace went quiet for a moment before she answered "My boyfriend and I gave him a lift. Little did we know that he was a serial killer. He would've killed us if Jim hadn't managed to throw him out of our car. Sadly that wasn't the last time we saw him. He started to stalk us for a couple of days, killing lots of people along the way."

As Grace paused in her story, Maddie had a sudden inkling of what happened to Grace's boyfriend and how Grace's stalker became a ghost.

 _That evil jerk must've killed her boyfriend!_ Maddie realized with horror. Then the scientist pulled herself out of her thoughts as she said "If you don't mind asking, how did he die?"

Grace paused for a moment she answered "The police killed him. I thought that was the end of it, but now he's back and he's coming for me."

As Maddie listened to the hidden fear in the young woman's voice, the scientist asked "What's the best time for us to meet you?"

"Right now." Grace replied.

"We'll be there as soon as we can." Maddie promised as she hung up the phone, she and Jack gathered up an assortment of anti-ghost weapons, before they hurried over towards Grace's apartment building.

As Danny watched them drive away, he couldn't help but feel that he should head over to Grace's place. At once, the 14 year old ran into the living, transformed into his ghost self and flew through the door.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Grace's apartment, the young woman watched tv as she waited for the Fentons to arrive. Playing on tv at the moment was an old horror that she and Jim used to watch together. In spite of her current situation, Grace couldn't help but smile as the main heroine made a dumb decision.

 _Turn around! He's right behind you!_ Grace thought to herself with frustration.

Then, without warning, Grace suddenly a frightening chill come over her.

At once, a sense of dread appeared in her stomach.

 _Oh no! Please don't let it be who so think it is._ The young college aged girl thought to herself with horror.

A few seconds later as if in response to her thoughts, a famed photo suddenly flew at her. Grace quickly ducked as the photo went right at her head.

"Very good, you're just as clever as I remembered you to be." Spoke an all too familiar voice that sent a chill up Grace's spine.

The young woman quickly spun around to see the Hitcher's ghost!

As the ghost of John Ryder flew towards her, Grace Andrews didn't waste a second. She quickly leaped out of the way and searched for anything that could be used as a weapon. Sadly, Ryder's ghost caught on to what she was doing and quickly flew at his enemy with intent to attack her.

However, before he could reach the young woman, a young cocky voice called out "Hey! Get away from her!

Ryder barely turned around when he was suddenly blasted into the wall. Ryder turned around to see the famous halfa himself floating mid-air before turning around to help Grace to her feet.

"Are you o…" Danny started to say, but Grace interrupted with "Look out!"

Danny quickly formed a shield around himself as Ryder attacked him.

"Don't interfere, you little fool!" The murderous ghost hissed.

"Sorry, can't do that." Danny replied before he fired another ecto blast at Ryder.

As Ryder turned invisible, Danny whipped out the Fenton thermos and turned it on in Ryder's detection.

At once, it started to suck Ryder, but the murderous ghost growled "No! I won't be beaten so easily!"

With that, he quickly flew away from the detection of the Thermos and went right behind Danny and snapped him in the back.

The hero of Amity Park fell to the ground with a loud cry of pain.

From her spot, Grace looked terrified. _If Ryder can beat Danny Phantom...no don't think like that. You beat him once before and you can beat him again_. She thought to herself.

At once, Grace pulled herself out of her head and hurried over towards Danny.

"Are you okay?" The young woman asked as she helped the ghost boy to his feet.

"I'm fine." Danny insisted.

"Nether of you will be for long!" Ryder hissed as he lunged at them.

Seeing that he had no other choice, Danny pushed Grace behind him and unleashed his ghostly wail upon the Hitcher's ghost.

Ryder was forced against the wall by Danny's wail as it destroyed most of Grace's apartment. Try as he might, Ryder could not resist the force of the wail. Danny continued to wail until Ryder had passed out. Feeling drained, Danny collapsed on the floor as he transformed back into his human self.

"Are you okay?" Grace once again asked Danny.

"Take this, Take off the cover, press the button and point it at him!" Danny ordered.

Grace did as he said and Ryder was sucked into the Thermos.

"What does this mean?" The young woman asked the halfa.

"That your nightmare is over and please don't tell anyone about me." Danny pleaded.

"I don't mean to be rude, but what are you anyway?" Grace asked.

"You're not scared of me? You don't think I'm evil?" Danny wondered with both disbelief and hope.

"No, you saved my life and I've seen true evil within my still growing life." Grace replied.

 _If only the rest of Amity Park were just like you, Sam, Tucker and Jazz. Especially my parents._ Danny thought to himself.

Then Grace pulled him out of his thoughts with "How did you get like this?" "If you don't mind me asking?" She added hastily.

"I don't mind, just as long as you don't tell anyone." Danny replied before he began his story with "You already know my parents are ghost hunters, well awhile ago they invented a ghost portal to study the ghost zone better, but when it didn't work. They just gave up and didn't bother to fix it. Then my friend Sam convinced to take a look inside. I did and I must've hit the on Button by mistake, because I got snapped and I passed out. When I came to, I discovered that I somehow became half ghost and got ghost powers to go along with it."

 _Holy cow!_ An astonished Grace thought to herself in amazement.

A few minutes later, Grace was suddenly brought out of her thoughts as she suddenly heard the sound of a car approaching her apartment.

"The Fetions/Mom and Dad!" Both Grace and Danny cried out at once. They quickly turned towards each other, before Grace helped the 14 year boy to his feet and hid him in the closet.

"What are you doing?!" Danny wondered.

"We can't have your parents see you here, can we? It would raise to many questions." Gracie pointed out.

Danny could only sigh in agreement as Grace closed the closet door.

* * *

Sometime later after Grace was able to buy ghost protection stuff for her apartment, Danny was let out of the closet and hurried on his way home with the Thermos.

As soon as he got home, Danny hurried into the basement and released Ryder's ghost into the ghost zone, thinking that would be the end of it. However he was sadly mistaken.

* * *

 **What do you think?**

 **Please leave a review.**


End file.
